When China-bashing isn’t

China’s leaders must love the narrative Western media has adopted regarding presidential candidates’ views on China. Consider a selection of headlines from the past few days:

• “China bashing: American campaign ritual or harbinger of tougher policy?” The Interpreter, August 25
• “Republicans line up to take potshots at China,” Financial Times, August 26
• “The 2016 China-bashing race,” The New York Times, August 26
• “The Republican’s Red Scare: GOP hopefuls are bashing China ahead of next month’s state visit,” Politico, August 28
• “A mainstay of presidential campaigning: China-bashing,” CBS News, August 28
• “China-Bashing 2016: We’ve seen this movie before,” Bloomberg, August 28

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Over the past week, candidates from both right and left have been talking tough about China. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have focused on economic issues. Hillary Clinton has commented on Chinese cyberattacks. Scott Walker and Marco Rubio have each brought up Beijing’s behavior in the South China Sea as well as its intensifying crack down on human rights activists. To be sure, some have expressed a better understanding of China and of US-China relations than others, and scrutiny of their comments is necessary and appropriate.

But to describe all of this discussion as “China-bashing” is irresponsible and dismissive of very real concerns regarding the People’s Republic. It suggests that candidates are not describing China as it actually is. The facts are that China is engaged in a prolonged cyber campaign against US businesses and the US government; that China is bullying its neighbors and driving up tensions in Asia; that China is increasing oppression of human rights activists, Christians, and Muslims; and that China has yet to adopt wide-reaching market-oriented economic reforms.

Many analysts seem to believe that pointing out those truths—and suggesting that those truths require an American response—is little more than “bashing” China. The Chinese Communist Party couldn’t agree more.

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